Bloodmark by Aurora Whittet Page A

rubbing his thumb over the back of my hand, leaving a blazing trail of warmth behind each stroke.
    “If you wanted to see me again, you could have just asked,” he said.
    “I wasn’t spying on you,” I said, unable to hide my smile.
    “Well, that’s disappointing.”
    I breathed in his masculine scent, and my skin tingled. Every part of me wanted him. I tried to tell myself I was no good for him, but I couldn’t stop my desire. It was overwhelming, and it didn’t make any sense.
    “Who are you?” he asked.
    “I don’t know what you mean.”
    “Who are you, really?”
    “You know who I am.”
    “Do I?”
    We fell silent while his words echoed in my mind. He knew something wasn’t natural about me. And my nerves twitched with warning. I should run away from him, but there was nowhere in the world I’d rather be.
    When we reached his motorcycle, the sun was nearly down and what light remained cast mysterious shadows across his face. He hesitated to let go of my hand, fidgeting with my fingertips, and I was in no hurry to let go of his hand either. So we just lingered that way, but finally he let go, letting my hand fall back to my side. Grey mounted his bike in one fluid movement as he glanced back at me over his shoulder.
    “Hop on and let me take you for a ride.” His ridiculously cute smile curved up at the corners of his lips. It was impossible not to smile back as I slid right up behind his warm body and I wrapped my arms around his chest, pulling myself closer. I wanted to feel all of him. I rested my face at the nape of his neck, breathing him in.
    The bike roared to life, as did his pulse. I felt overwhelmed by the need to be with him and to be touching him. I was losing control and I knew it, but I didn’t care.
    I don’t know what direction we drove or how long it took to hit the road. All I knew was how it felt to have my arms wrapped around him, and it was all over too soon. He parked in front of a diner, and my arms reluctantly released him, long after it was appropriate. He slid off the bike and held his hand out to me. I slipped my hand into his as he led me into the diner. We sat in the back corner booth, and he slid his body next to mine. He seemed as eager as I felt to have our skin touching.
    A current flowed through my veins every time we touched, and I never wanted it to end. It was a stolen moment, hidden from the world, from rules that weren’t ours, from the inevitability that I would never feel this again.
    He brushed my wild curls out of my face as he let the back of his hand lightly brush my lips. I exhaled sharply. Mund had described mates binding and how the overpowering essence of love was instant, but this was incredible. There wasn’t a doubt that it was happening to me, at this very moment. Every inch of my body burned for him.
    “So what were you really doing alone in the woods today?”
    Finally it came, as I dreaded it would. What could I ever tell him that wouldn’t send him running away? The truth was forbidden. If I let him try to decide, then I wouldn’t have to lie. I could just go along with whatever he dreamed up. My nervousness gnawed at me, and I began fidgeting with the napkin-wrapped silverware, unable to meet his probing green eyes.
    “I got lost.”
    He laughed. “I doubt that. There is more to you. Anyone can see that.”
    “No,” I whispered.
    “Don’t you see how everyone reacts to you? They flock to you.”
    “They are just being polite.”
    “Can’t you see how every guy you meet falls over himself to be in your presence? Just to be near you?”
    I shook my head, trying to get his words out. He couldn’t say these things to me. I realized then, even though I barely knew him, I loved him with every fiber of my soul, as though we were created from the same material . . . but this could never be. I was immortal, and an immortal couldn’t bind with a human. They were sacred to Old Mother. This was forbidden. But from the moment I met him, I